“Christ invites us to remain in touch with the many sufferings of every day and to taste the beginning of hope and new life right there, where we live amid our hurts and pains and brokenness.”
Henri Nouwen

July 7, 2005. Positive pregnancy test. Hmm, I better really get going on this painting before I get sick or too tired to do anything.

A few days later in July, 2005. Damn. I'm sick and too tired to do anything.

Middle of July, 2005. Despite the need for frequent breaks to the bathroom or to bed, painting commences. Although things are slow going, I resolve to finish by the start of school.

September 6, 2005. School begins. Painting is not done. But we're so close. All that is really left is fixing the office/baby room since the grey turned out to be pretty ugly, and finishing the entry way. The latter requires a ladder. We don't have a ladder. Entry way remains taped off. We appear to be in a constant state of remodeling. But we aren't.

November 25, 2005. Borrow ladder from friends. You know, one of those awesome ladders that has its own info-mercial.

November 26, 2005. Entry way is completed, thanks to the ladder and some Christmas tunes on the stereo. Granted, a pregnant woman shouldn't work on a ladder when it is too high, so the cutting in at the top is left for Dan. But it looks so nice. And clean.